7 Reasons Why The Daleks Are a Force for Good: Loyalty
Episode 3 of 7
The Daleks not only teach us the merits of persistence and ingenuity, they are also a study in devotion. They are all of one mind (a hive mind actually) and completely devoted to their cause; The worthy and charitable cause of universal domination and destruction. Set aside that and the whole racial purity stuff and you have a fine example for the virtue of loyalty. Daleks do not question orders. In fact, they need them. They must have direction from their hierarchy or I guess they just kind of hang around and run analytics or something. In all the episodes of Dr. Who I have ever seen, they are never stumbling on Dalek recreation centers or spas or arcades. They are all business. They are so loyal to the cause of brutally murdering or exploiting (and then murdering) everything and everyone they come across, they do not have time for trivialities. Let us observe two case studies.
The Last Dalek
During The Ninth Doctor’s time in the barrel, he ran across the last Dalek in existence whilst traveling to… Earth. Crazy right? Anyway, when they meet, The Doctor is less than thrilled, as he thought he had rid the universe of them for once and for all. It is of note to say that most previous incarnations of the Doctor took the “shoulder shrug” stance on the topic of Daleks, essentially resigning themselves to the fact that they always show back up again no matter how badly he defeats them. This last Dalek becomes somehow oddly depressed because it discovers that it is alone and has no one to give him orders, to my previous point. Luckily for it and Classic Doctor Who fans everywhere, it gets over this momentary bout of human emotion quickly and proceeds to cleverly devise and plan to escape from its shackles and murder everything that comes near.
This Dalek shows ingenuity and perseverance of course, but how does loyalty come into play? At one point it says, seemingly to itself, “The Daleks live through me!” So there it is, when seemingly the last existing dalek, a sense of loyalty for the cause is still at the forefront. There is still the desire to see its mission through. Sure, it could have escaped off world and minded its own business branching off into Dalek Philosophy or poetry, but no, it went right back to fighting the fight, wasting no time. When this Dalek becomes infected by some human DNA, which makes it impure in it’s own eyes, it quickly self-destructs as opposed to introduce impurities to the Dalek Race. The ultimate sacrifice. What could be more loyal than that?
The Ironsides Daleks
Yet another genius plot by the Daleks was the time they infiltrated the British Government during the Blitz in World War Two in order to lure the Doctor to… Earth… for the purpose of tricking him into activating one of their genetic purity doodads to create another pure Dalek Race. These crafty Daleks were not pure you see, but they were still loyal to their cause, not unlike the Dalek previously mentioned. Now, despite this suspiciously being almost the exact same plot as a Second Doctor episode where they hatch an extremely similar plan, it is still the Daleks going at great lengths to further their cause. Just because they change happy to glad every once in a while and use the same templates on occasion is no reason to complain. I digress.
The Daleks are successful in their plan and manage to create an entirely new race of Daleks, the almost universally unpopular and vibrant designed versions known as the “New Paradigm” Daleks. I say A for creativity and ideas but F+ for execution BBC producers. Anyway, when these new bully, humpbacked, arrogant, and cheerfully painted Daleks arrive, the Supreme Dalek (now painted all white as I want to say a symbol of purity?) basically tells the three crafty Daleks that they are inferior and must be exterminated. These three Daleks that executed the successful plot are basically more that happy to be annihilated, and simply resign themselves to their fate. Thus destroying the last vestige of Daleks with cool designs.
Loyalty is a trait we could use a little more of in the self-absorbed society we have become. We preach loyalty and love and sacrifice and similarly connected virtues, but we do not act on them. We video people in peril instead of helping them. We laugh at people when they fall, figuratively and literally. When it comes to the virtue of self-sacrifice for a common goal, The Daleks are often better than we are at times. Take stock in your own sense of loyalty. Is it grounded? Is it projected in the right direction? Who are you loyal to? What creed do you follow? Loyalty does not have to be a blind, sheep-like following of some manifesto like our killer metal friends. We can use it for good. We can be loyal to each other.
Stay tuned for my next self-indulgent diatribe (hmm, didn’t I just talk about how we are self-absorbed), where we discuss something that everyone can appreciate: passion.
